1. Field of the invention
The present invention generally relates to sport striking articles such as bats used in the game of baseball and softball. More specifically, this invention relates to striking articles having an enlargable or collapsable profile shape.
2. Description of the prior art
The game of softball and baseball is a popular sport, for participants of all ages. However, it is well known that young children experience considerable difficulty in their early attempts to learn how to hit a baseball or softball. It takes a fair amount of eye to hand coordination and fluidity of swinging motion to successfully make contact and hit the ball any reasonable distance. It is difficult for most youngsters to experience success when they are being asked to take the instrument that is in their hands and effectively strike the moving target that is coming their way. Because of the difficulties involved, many attempts have been made to make the task easier for youngsters. For example, enlarged lightweight plastic bats are well known in the prior art.
For many youngsters, however, the lightweight plastic bats of the prior art are not large enough for the child to be successful. The reason for this lack of larger bats is that a very large bat is difficult to package and ship for the manufacturer, and is difficult and impractical to store for the retailer and user too. A very large bat which is four times or more as large as an average size wooden bat becomes a nuisance.
The prior art has suggested inflatable bats so as to overcome the aforementioned problems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,382 to Hendershott is an example of this type of inflatable bat. However, such inflatable bats generally do not provide sufficient rigidity to hit the ball any reasonable distance and does not have a handle sized for grasping by a child. Moreover, the device according to Hendershott does not enable the user to vary the size of the bat in use. Accordingly, what is needed is a child's toy bat which can be selectively enlarged to provide a greater hitting profile, but which retains sufficient rigidity to be capable of hitting a ball a reasonable distance.